Science Museum of Minnesota gets $14.5 million grant from NASA

NASA awarded a $14.5 million grant to the Science Museum of Minnesota, as part of an initiative to help promote space science and earth science.

With the grant, this allows the Science Museum to join other entities, including Arizona State University, the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California Berkeley, the Museum of Science in Boston, and Space Sciences Laboratory, in creating new ways to work with educators and students. And, according to spokespeople for the Science Museum, this gives Minnesota a bigger presence as a guide for future science explorers. This specifically allows the Science Museum to lead NASA’s Space and Earth Informal STEM Education (SEISE) initiative.

“NASA’s programs are exciting and critical to our nation’s future for space exploration and scientific learning,” said Science Museum of Minnesota president Alison Rempel Brown in a statement. “The Science Museum is a proven leader at making science concepts inspirational and easy-to-understand through programs and activities. We are a perfect match.”

This isn’t the first time that NASA has helped the Science Museum with fund injections, as it first started offering funding to the museum in 2009 for climate change education. The two entities had also worked together on the Space exhibition, which had made its debut in 2015, touring around different science centers in the U.S.

The new fund injection allows the SEISE initiative to tap into NASA’s resources, including its manpower in the form of science experts, and various programs to provide new learning experiences. These programs include interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, videos, Earth and space science tool kits, and different types of media to assist museums and educators. According to Science Museum senior vice president for science learning Paul Martin, this could allow the museum to reach “millions” in about five years from now.

“The Science Museum is a proven leader at making science concepts inspirational and easy-to-understand … We are a perfect match,” said Minnesota governor Mark Dayton in a statement of his own, “This is tremendous news for the Science Museum, for our state, and for millions of curious minds in Minnesota and across the nation.”